F-14B Tomcat

by Lawrence Aphoy
 

Italeri's 1/48 scale F-14B Tomcat is available online from Squadron

I must say upon opening the box of Italeri’s F-14 B I was pretty much pleased with what I saw. The kit featured nicely engraved panel lines although a little too deep. However, a closer inspection of the kit just revealed an F-14A. Briefly, the gun vents were the old style, no provisions for “newer” style vents. Perhaps the biggest fault with the kit are the exhaust nozzles. They are totally wrong in shape and size.

Fortunately, all was not lost. The general fit of the kit is quite good and although the nozzles were completely wrong it could be fixed with a little bit of putty and plastic sheets.

To fix the problem with the nozzles, I used the ones supplied in the kit as a basis on which work on. Adding several layers of Tamiya putty and some plastic sheet, I was able to build a platform where I could attach the correct looking exhaust. But, before this could take place a lot sanding is required and some cutting is also needed. Once I had got this problem area sorted I added the exhaust from Revell-Monogram’s F-14.

The cockpit was a little bit sparse, and incomplete. What I mean by this is that just behind the pilot’s seat there are no back walls. This needs to be fixed. The seats are molded without Face Blind firing handles. You need to add this.

One thing that I like about this kit is the options given to you. There is a selection of sensors, weapons, tarps pod and fuel tanks. Also the kit decals are quite good. You get two options as to what aircraft that can be built. They are VF-74 and VF-154. I don’t think that VF-154 fly the F-14B so I chose VF-74, the Bedevilers.

Painting was done using a Lenco 301 airbrush. The colours used were from Gunze Sangyo. The entire plane was airbrushed with H307 (FS 36320). Weathering was applied by using various shades of gray. When everything was dry I coated the plane with Testor’s Dullcoat.
 

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2002 by Lawrence Aphoy
Page Created 26 November, 2002
Last Updated 07 December, 2002

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